Google Search Now Shows Tweets, but Will It Help Twitter Get More Users?

Tweets have begun to show up in Google search results, and Twitter's stock is up a bit. Probably not a coincidence. Investors hope this deal will help the company capture a broader audience, and turn the casual onlookers, who may stumble upon a tweet while browsing the Web, into active members.

While Google is giving Twitter a nice billboard for its content, the experience leaves something to be desired. The full body of the tweet, including a photo if there is one, lives on the search page. Clicking one brings you to Twitter's site, which includes the same information, along with the number of retweets and favorites the post has received. (If you're not a Twitter user, do these numbers even mean anything to you?) Above that, for nonmembers, are giant buttons that say “Sign Up” and “Log In.” Hit just about any other button on the page, and you get a popup that implores you, again, to please, please sign up for Twitter.